Bob was born in Teaneck, NJ in 1943. His mother, Ellen Swanson, sang professionally at the Radio City Music Hall till she decided to devote her full time to raising her children.

Bob graduated from Bates College with B.S. in Chemistry in 1965. He enlisted in the US Coast Guard Reserves as a sonarman with 1 year in active duty and 5 years reserves.

Through out his young adulthood and during summer college breaks he learned all the grunt work of the business. Upon finishing his active duty in 1966, his Dad retired and he took over running operations as Vice President in the Fall of 1966. He and his sister Linda Pietsch (Nee Armstrong) bought out their father and Bob assumed the roll as President.

In 1981 he saw the industry changing. He finalized all the improvement to the TUBE PULLER and applied for and received a patent 4369569. He also saw the need for a safer, quicker and controlled manner of completely removing the tube from the shell lead to the development of the TUBE STRIPPER and applied for and received a patent 5167058.